PREFACE
On Tuesday in Easter week, 1912, accompanied by the Rev. J. Khadder, Assistant Chaplain of St. Luke's Mission, Haifa, I left that town for El-Kaisâriyeh (Cæsarea), where we were entertained at the Orthodox Greek rented house belonging to a Bosnian landlord. On reaching Jaffa I secured a fresh carriage on April 12, for Gaza, reaching that city in nine and a half hours,—an unusually quick journey. During my visit of ten days there I was the guest of the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Sterling, in the Church Missionary Society's compound. Nothing could have exceeded their kind hospitality, and I am greatly indebted to them for valuable local information. Mrs. Sterling used her typewriter for producing my Chapter XXI on the "History of the C.M.S. Gaza Mission," 1878-1913.
The aged and scholarly German, Father Gatt, one of the Latin Clergy attached to the Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem, who came to Gaza thirty-three years ago from Austria, and ministers to eighty souls, lent me three printed articles on Gaza, and cheerfully added to my limited knowledge of the city. He mentioned that a History of Gaza has been printed by Dr. Martin A. Meyer, and published at New York in 1907, but I had not the advantage of seeing this book. After my manuscript was completed early in 1912, I procured a copy, and have during 1913 taken the liberty of incorporating some additional information from its contents, for which I am grateful.
Mr. A. A. Knesevich, H.B.M. Consular Agent at Gaza—of Austrian parentage—lent me five of his official printed Reports, notes from which are included under the heading of "The Key of Syria," Chapter XIX.
It will be noticed in Chapter XVII that I am also indebted to Mr. Emil G. Knesevich, for photographs of an "Old Sarcophagus at Gaza," but unfortunately, they have not proved sufficiently clear for reproduction.
Mr. Habeeb el-Khouri, the C.M.S. Catechist, not only accompanied me to the Great Mosque, but supplied me with information.
Miss Kate Sandreczka translated articles in German bearing on the history of the city.
At a short distance from Mayoumas, the maritime quarter of Gaza, on the north-west side, are the ruins of Thedah (or Tedûn) the site of the ancient Hellenistic town of Anthedon, lately discovered by Père Gatt. Alexander Jannæus took it along with Gaza. In company with Dr. Sterling I visited this spot, enveloped in sand, on April 18, where we found broken pieces of marble, ornamented glazed pottery, and ancient glass scattered in every direction. Excavations for hewn stone have not been infrequent here.
Augustus gave this port to Herod the Great, who rebuilt it, and changed its name into that of Agrippeion, after his friend Marcus Agrippa.
Anthedon was an early archiepiscopal see, in Palestina Prima, and I am familiar with the few specimens of its coinage during the reigns of Elagabalus (a.d. 218-222), and Alexander Severus (a.d. 222-235). Since the days of the Muslim occupation there is no mention of this town, and its name does not appear in Holy Writ.
Among the Hellenistic towns in Schürer's The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division II, vol. i, pp. 72-3, there is additional information on Anthedon, (Άνθηδών).[1]
On the following afternoon I visited Djebel el-Mountâr, a hill, two hundred and seventy feet high, about two miles from the city towards the south-east. It is the "hill that is before Hebron" (Judges xvi. 3) to which Samson carried during the night one of the gates of the city. He did not carry the gate as far as Hebron, which is upwards of twelve hours' ride, but he went in the direction of Hebron. It was a superhuman feat to tear away the gate posts, and carry them across to the top of a neighbouring hill.
It is interesting to compare Josephus' account of this episode with that of the sacred historian. In his Antiquities, Book V, section 10, Whiston's edition, the following passage occurs—
"Samson held the Philistines in contempt, and came to Gaza, and took up his lodgings in a certain inn. When the rulers of Gaza were informed of his coming hither, they seized upon the gates, and placed men in ambush about them, that he might not escape without being perceived; but Samson, who was acquainted with their contrivances against him, arose about midnight, and ran by force upon the gates, with their posts and beams, and the rest of their wooden furniture, and carried them away on his shoulders, and bore them to the mountain that is over Hebron, and there laid them down."[2]
The hill is covered with Muslim tombs, and over-topped by a Weli, dedicated to Aly-el-Mountâr—"Aly the Tower of Defence." Marnas was originally worshipped here.
The extensive view well repays the ascent, for on a clear day the mountains of Hebron may be seen. The sea is visible. There is a fine view of Gaza, and the extensive plain is under cultivation. Due south on the coast is the site Deir el-Belah (Convent of Dates), where the body of St. Hilarion was said to be finally buried.
Napoleon Bonaparte camped here with his army one night towards the end of February 1799, and on the following morning continued his march towards Jaffa.
I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to express my delight and astonishment at finding such an exceptionally well managed native girls' school in the C.M.S. compound. And no wonder, when Miss Smithies instructs the four native female teachers, the two monitresses, and the four half-monitresses, twice every weekday! My experience is that the most useful boys' school in Syria is at Sidon, under the American Congregationalists, and Gaza may well be proud of its girls' school, for there is nothing to approach its varied excellence in Palestine.
The misgovernment of Gaza and its district is worse under the Young Turks than under the late régime. But the C.M.S. mission work in the Gaza compound is indeed a bright spot in the city, and the persistent Christian teaching—boldly proclaimed—is bearing fruit in unexpected quarters. Holy enthusiasm is bound to tell in the course of time.
It seems more common for the younger boys of the poorer class in Gaza, than in other parts of Palestine, to have their hair fancifully shaved. One has a tuft on the top of the skull; another a small ring of hair. Some small fellahin boys have the hair growing quite long over the back of the neck, while the whole crown is well shaved. The tuft of hair implies that Mohammed will pull them into heaven. Another theory is that this tuft is left for the benefit of the resurrection angel, who will facilitate their resurrection from the grave.
It will be noticed that I have made free use of Dr. George Adam Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land, twelfth edition, 1906.
Mr. Miltiades N. Assimacopoulos, B.C., of Acre (Ptolemais), has rendered me invaluable assistance in looking up references, arranging the Index, and typewriting portions of the manuscript for the press.
The indulgent reader will kindly remember that this book has been compiled under peculiar circumstances. There is no public reference library in this Muslim town of Haifa, and the authorities who have been consulted on Gaza are not agreed as to several dates in its chequered history.
My thanks are due to the Rev. R. J. E. Boggis, B.D., St. Mary Magdalene's Vicarage, Barnstaple, for carefully correcting the proof-sheets, as well as those of The Orthodox Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
St. Luke's Mission, Haifa-under-Mt. Carmel, Palestine,
September 5, 1913.